General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Thank You Peter Neffenger: You've Taught Us It's Okay to Head Slam Disabled Brain Surgery Patients [View all]tblue37
(64,979 posts)always been thoughtful and helpful to me concerning my disabilities. I am severely hearing impaired, even with my hearing aids in, and I walk with a cane. When I have to go through the metal detector without my cane, an agent always takes my hand and helps me get through it without falling down. When I don't understand their instructions because of my deafness, they are very patient with me.
I suspect that a lot of the difference in experience has to do with which airports one is flying into or out of. I fly from Kansas City and to Pittsburg, PA, Washington, D.C, and DFW.
I also suspect that when someone's handicaps are of a sort that cause them to become nervous or frantic, that might cause agents with even an hidden strain of the bully in them to respond aggressively, the way other animals respond to signs of weakness and fear. Maybe it provokes a predator to prey response, the way a small child running in fear from a large dog will cause some dogs to give chase and forget it is not a wolf.
I also suspect that the bully types respond to any sign of weakness and vulnerability, and not all handicapped people manifest such signs. Although I am a 65-year-old overweight deaf woman, I have taught college for 43 years, I ran a home daycare for 18 years during which I (firmly) raised 37 kids, including my own two (all while teaching college), and project a rather forceful, no-nonsense presence.
Oh, and of course I am white. If I were a POC, I am quite certain that no amount of presence would protect me from abuse, any more than brilliant, world-famous scholar and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was protected from abuse by a snotty low IQ police officer who wanted him to "respect his authoritah!"